- "If you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.
Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God's Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done 'on earth as it is in heaven.' On earth."
I have no idea how Shane Claiborne is getting articles in Esquire magazine, but I do think this letter says a lot that I want to say... in a much better way than I could say it. This is what the unchurch is all about.
Sorry for yet another blog link-to-an-article. It is worth reading, though. Go read it. It is especially interesting coming on the heels of a news story I just read about Bible translations, in which some "argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages [such as Jesus saying 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'] into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes."
Read. And discuss. Do these two stories have anything to do with each other? And was Jesus just about telling us what to believe, or was he about showing us how to live?
Posts
6 comments:
(B) How to live.
"It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done 'on earth as it is in heaven.' On earth."
What a great quote. Reminds me of a bunch of guys I hang with.
Interesting stuff, Scott. It actually reminds me of how we used to talk in the high-school youth group of my old Congregational Church, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and nobody had a microwave oven, or a VCR. . .
Of course, it's not like the two ('what to believe' and 'how to live') are totally unrelated. And it's not like questions of Heaven and Hell are utterly irrelevant to the Christian. As Richard Weaver said, even before I was born, Ideas Have Consequences. . .
Mother Theresa was always fond of saying that our main task in this life is learning what it really means to love. And that's really how I take the main thrust of Shane Claiborne's article. . .
As to the 'conservative Bible translators', I'm just left shaking my head. It seems not to occur to them that they're doing the exact same thing they would accuse 'liberals' of having done. The point being, that something else (whether liberal or conservative political ideology, or something else) is set up as the Template against which we measure the Truth of Scripture.
I recall reading many years ago about a Mennonite who decided that pacifism was more important to him than Christianity was; and I wonder whether Mr. Schlafly might give a similar answer, with 'conservatism' substituted for 'pacifism'. . .
"I recall reading many years ago about a Mennonite who decided that pacifism was more important to him than Christianity was; and I wonder..."
People have an huge tendency to pick a side and take their stand with that side. In other words, to define and solidify their attitudes (which they absurdly call "faith"?) based on what or whom they are against. The Menonite dude is a great example.
This way of thinking, living, and politicking is utterly contrary to the the holy spirit. And every institution, movement, faction, or -ism shaped this way is contrary to the holy spirit.
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." [John 6:63.]
"The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" [Romans 8:6]
And it's a darned good article. The first one, not the second one.
"People have an huge tendency to pick a side and take their stand with that side. In other words, to define and solidify their attitudes (which they absurdly call "faith"?) based on what or whom they are against. The Menonite dude is a great example."
We have a huge tendency for it...I have a huge tendency for it...
Wow, its a heady thing to be quoted by Matt.
Post a Comment